By Jon Clark, managing partner at Moving Traffic Media, a New York digital agency offering SEO, PPC, and Amazon marketing services.
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We know that Prime Day is happening in July. We may not have a date yet but don’t let this fool you into thinking you can sit back and relax. You need to get your store prepared, otherwise, you’ll have to wait until next year to really take advantage of this big shopping holiday.
What is Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day is an annual shopping event exclusively for members of Amazon Prime, of which there are over 200 million! Although marketed as a “day,” the event lasts for 48 hours, and during this period members will get access to a huge range of discounts and deals across a wide variety of products.
The event first came on the scene in 2015 to celebrate the 20th birthday of Amazon. Since then, it has become one of the most pivotal dates in the e-commerce calendar. In 2021, total sales surpassed $11.19 billion, with over 250 million products sold. You wouldn’t want to miss out on this opportunity, would you?
How do you prepare for Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day can feel overwhelming, which is why having a strategy is a must. Here are some steps you should take in the build-up to the big occasion:
1. Select your products wisely.
Select the products you’re going to really push on Prime Day. Not only do you need to make sure their listings are optimized for conversions but you need to choose products that are going to perform well during this shopping event.
The most suitable products are those that:
• Have a rating of around 4 stars or higher
• Have a minimum of 20 reviews
• Are in stock and can be replenished with ease
• Include keyword-optimized and branded content
• Include optimized photographs
2. Be generous with exclusive deals and coupons.
Shoppers expect big deals on Amazon Prime Day. They won’t be happy with a measly 5% off the usual price.
There are two main options when providing deals during this event; Amazon coupons and lightning deals. Let’s take a look at both.
• Amazon coupons provide you with an excellent way to optimize your Amazon store sales and attract more customers because an orange ribbon is used to highlight the coupon. For every coupon received, Amazon will charge $0.60. Amazon also has a coupon page, with the most popular coupons being featured there.
• Lightning deals are limited-time promotions that Fulfillment by Amazon sellers can apply. You’ll have a limited quantity of items—for example, 500—and then a discount applied for a set amount of time. Once all 500 are sold, the deal is up! This can help you in clearing out seasonal inventory and overstock by bringing more attention to your brand.
3. Leverage influencer marketing.
Another Amazon marketplace advertising tip is to make the most of influencers and their platforms. Influencers are highly valuable tools for brands, as they can influence a completely new audience to trust your business. Typically, individuals are going to be more likely to purchase something if one of their favorite influencers has promoted it online. Plus, Amazon makes it easy for you to get started, as it has the Amazon Influencer Program, where you can find a range of social influencers to connect with.
4. Audit your listings and fill in any gaps.
One thing you cannot afford to do is have critical information missing from any of your listings on Amazon. If a customer is not able to quickly find answers to their questions, they will take their business elsewhere, especially on Amazon Prime Day when there are so many offers and discounts to get through in a limited period of time.
This is why you need to start auditing your listings today. Pay attention to any gaps. Are your listings missing key attributes? Do you have unanswered questions? Does your listing have sufficient high-quality images? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself.
5. Keep tabs on the competition.
It also makes sense to keep an eye on what the competition is doing. What sort of deals are they offering? How can you make sure that your deals are sweeter?
Do be careful, though! If your competitor has the Buy Box, don’t go clicking on their listing. Even if you do not purchase anything from them, you are increasing their page views, which will boost their Buy Box percentage.
Therefore, the only thing you are doing is increasing the chances of them keeping the Buy Box for longer.
6. Get your inventory in order.
There is nothing more frustrating than running out of stock during Amazon Prime Day. Evaluate your FBA inventory ahead of time.
7. Optimize your products.
Finally, you need to optimize your product listings, as this will play a massive role in terms of your sales and conversion rates.
There are four key areas to consider here:
• Keywords: Use keywords relevant to your products and Prime Day. What would someone use to search for your products on Amazon?
• Backend search terms: Add highly relevant search terms. Do not simply repeat the keywords that are included in your listings.
• Description and title: Write concise, clear and compelling content. Optimize descriptions for visibility on mobile devices.
• Images: Use premium-quality images to capture the attention of Amazon shoppers. This can significantly boost your click-through rate.
Amazon Prime Day represents a huge opportunity for businesses of all sizes all over the world. With large surges in traffic over the two-day event, you will want to ensure your business is front and center with some incredible offers for Amazon Prime customers to make the most of.
